On Children
by Kahlil Gibran（1883～1931）
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
你的孩子，其实并不是你的孩子
——选自《先知》第四章“论孩子”［黎巴嫩］纪伯伦（1883～1931）
原译：冰心
重译：西越
你的孩子，其实并不是你的孩子，
他是生命对自身的渴望而生的子女。
他借你而来，却非因你而来。
他与你在一起，却不属于你。
你可以给他以爱，却不能给他以思想，
因为他有自己的思想。
你可以庇护他的身体，却不能庇护他的灵魂，
因为他的灵魂属于明天，属于你的梦境也无法到达的明天。
你可以拼尽全力变得象他一样，却无法让他变得象你一样，
因为生命不会倒退，不会停留在过去。
你是弓，孩子是从你那里射出的箭。
射手望着未来之路上的箭靶，
用神力将你拉开，让箭飞得又快又远。
让自己能在射手的手中弯曲而感到喜乐吧，
他爱飞驰的箭，也爱静默的弓。
补记：第三句“他借你而来，却非因你而来”，英文是“They come through you but not from you”。我的理解是：孩子借父母的身体降临世上，却不是“来自于父母”，因为他们“来自于上帝”，是上帝将孩子通过他们的父母送到了这个世界。由于语言和文化的差异，翻译的时候，始终没有找到合适的方式将这个含义表达出来。翻译成“因你而来”，容易理解成“因为你而来”，似乎多少也接近本意。
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